Bill Goetz was in Beast Mode Wednesday.

Goetz confronted the Island County assessor and treasurer in person after getting what he said felt like the runaround via email regarding a $6,000 property tax charge.

“I’m channeling Marshawn Lynch,” Goetz said. “It’s Beast Mode time and I’m not stopping.

“This hasn’t been easy for me.”

Because of his persistence, the state Department of Revenue is allowing Island County to refund his money in full under a “manifest error,” Island County Assessor Mary Engle said Friday.

Criteria for such a refund is very stringent and would only apply to a taxpayer under extraordinary circumstances such as Goetz’s, Engle said.

In Goetz’s case, his mortgage company withdrew outstanding taxes from 2009 from his escrow account in December when they noticed a balance. Goetz had no idea where this bill originated because it wasn’t reported when he purchased his home in 2011 or when he later refinanced.

“It’s not about the money,” Goetz said Wednesday. “I can afford to take a loss. It’s not my tax.”

After researching Goetz’s case and working with Island County Treasurer Wanda Grone, Engle said, it appears a series of errors led to the unexpected tax bill.

The county switched computer systems 2009-10, leading to a backlog of supplemental tax updates that were finally brought up to date last year. Tax data from the previous owner of Goetz’s property was dropped from the system and wasn’t billed on time, Engle said.

It was finally updated late last year, and that’s when Goetz first learned of the unpaid tax bill.

While Goetz’s situation may be unique, it’s not solitary.

Patty Fakkema, operations manager for Land Title, which handles Goetz’s property, said she’s seen more than a few situations where the county made frustrating property tax errors.

“I believe the county did the right thing with Mr. Goetz,” Fakkema said.

Fakkema said she is encouraged that Grone is communicating with property owners about the errors and is trying to rectify them.

“We’re talking to them about how to get this to stop,” Fakkema said.

Whidbey resident Vanessa Kohlhaas said she had to pay $997 last week after receiving a tax statement due by Jan. 23, but was granted an extension. The additional tax stems from a 2008 property-line change that resulted in Kohlhaas gaining two additional acres.

“Now Island County is billing us for taxes on a corrected value of our property in 2008 because they hadn’t completed the boundary line adjustment change,” said Kohlhaas, who plans to appeal the tax.

Camano Island resident Kerri Maxwell said she had to haul her small family to Coupeville several times to combat an incorrect tax assessment on a home she purchased in 2011.

The situation has since been rectified and money refunded, but Maxwell said the process is frustrating.

“They couldn’t explain it and I got the runaround like Mr. Goetz said,” Maxwell said. “I just kept asking.”

Goetz said he doesn’t understand why he wasn’t given sufficient notice to appeal the tax before it was taken out of his account. Others, like Maxwell, wonder why the appeals process is so long and complex.

“It’s a lot harder to go back and get your stuff when it’s gone,” Goetz said.

Despite the stress the issue caused him, Goetz said he’s glad the matter is resolved.

“I’m extremely happy at the outcome of my taxation frustration,” Goetz said.

“It’s renewed my faith in people trying to do the right thing.”